Stars and Stripes Newspaper
Sep. 4th, 2020 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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thisfinecrewA memo has been issued closing the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. It's last date of publication is to be 30 September 2020.
I never directly served. I grew up in the military to the point that my first nursery school was in Saigon until we were evacuated. I also worked as a contractor for Boston University serving the military in Germany. While I preferred the Herald-Tribune or a British newspaper, Stars and Stripes was a lifeline. Other papers could be delayed, but not Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes is often the only newspaper serving military can get on the front lines.
This is not just an issue of getting news from home to the troops, though. Congress restored Stars and Stripes' budget after the current president removed it. The House has passed the revised budget. The Senate has yet to take it up, but, according to the piece linked below, several military veterans from both sides of the aisle have expressed their concern about this move.
Interfering with Congress' power of the purse is a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. Had the memo waited until after the Senate vote or asked for plans to close in case the vote didn't go in the newspaper's favor, that would be one thing. But this, a military order to close before the budget is passed and, seemingly, at the behest of the president, is an insult to everyone serving.
I'm from DC, no Senator for me, but if you have a Senator, please ask him or her to vote for a budget fully funding Stars and Stripes. If you want to call the White House in protest, I'd be in favor of it, but who knows what good it would do.
Link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/09/04/trump-and-stars-and-stripes-attacking-american-icon-column/5706859002/
I never directly served. I grew up in the military to the point that my first nursery school was in Saigon until we were evacuated. I also worked as a contractor for Boston University serving the military in Germany. While I preferred the Herald-Tribune or a British newspaper, Stars and Stripes was a lifeline. Other papers could be delayed, but not Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes is often the only newspaper serving military can get on the front lines.
This is not just an issue of getting news from home to the troops, though. Congress restored Stars and Stripes' budget after the current president removed it. The House has passed the revised budget. The Senate has yet to take it up, but, according to the piece linked below, several military veterans from both sides of the aisle have expressed their concern about this move.
Interfering with Congress' power of the purse is a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. Had the memo waited until after the Senate vote or asked for plans to close in case the vote didn't go in the newspaper's favor, that would be one thing. But this, a military order to close before the budget is passed and, seemingly, at the behest of the president, is an insult to everyone serving.
I'm from DC, no Senator for me, but if you have a Senator, please ask him or her to vote for a budget fully funding Stars and Stripes. If you want to call the White House in protest, I'd be in favor of it, but who knows what good it would do.
Link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/09/04/trump-and-stars-and-stripes-attacking-american-icon-column/5706859002/
